I came here to ask a (very newbie) question about Linux, but ...

The registration process was so involved, pedantic and forgetful, took so many retries to persuade it that I'd already entered everything it asked, multiple times -- because each time O clicked confirm, it forgot half of the data I'd already entered -- that now I have finally succeeded in negotiating with it to allow me to register, I've forgotten the question I came here to ask.

Sad really. |THE place (apparently) for newbies to get help, and it leads them through such a merry dance before they can ask a question, they give up and go back to Windows.

Thanks all the same.

I remembered.

And I spent 2 hours constructing my question. Complete with all the appropriate version numbers, background info and context -- as best as I could remember it. And ...

When I clicked "submit post", it told me that I was 'logged out"; and so, threw my 2 hours of effort under the nearest bus.

This is how you welcome newbies?

And you aren't able to create your post in a text editor, spell check it, then copy/paste into the forum? Also nice to have a local copy.

I think that I would of had that backed up. Just like everything we do on a puter. What question do you have?

Tell what distro you are using,
In a terminal
What you are trying to do, what errors that you are getting.

Maybe a bit harsh, but maybe IT isn't your thing? Or is this post a wind up!

1 members found this post helpful.

Are you using an atypical browser or extension, or do you have a hardware issue? The registration process shouldn't be terribly difficult.

The OP is obviously really stressed out by whatever the issue is, and things that mess with your emotions (whether you're messing up or the site is doesn't matter) are going to increase cognitive dissonance and make it impossible for the OP to figure it out on the spot > ergo anger.

C'mon, we've all been there.

2 members found this post helpful.

On most browsers (well, at least on Firefox), bressing the back button should've been enough to restore the post.
But since this has happened to me on various platforms, too, I installed an addon "Textarea Cache" that fixes this (not only LQ) problem for good.

I've also had failures to post happen on very rare occasions, and 'back' doesn't always restore it, though it often can. It's very frustrating if you put a lot of effort into the post. I've taken to copying long/involved posts to the clipboard before hitting 'submit', just in case. It's only two keypresses.

Browseruk,

Welcome to LQ forums.

Unless my response to a thread is very short, I invariably first compose it in LibreOffice Writer before copying/pasting it into the LQ text box.
LOW provides a valuable safety net.

I can understand your frustration having spent so much time on producing as much detail as possible.

In contrast, many new posters expect us to be clairvoyants, so well done for trying to help us as much as possible.

Just let us have brief details of your problem and we can hopefully sort it out for you.

1 members found this post helpful.

I also know how frustrating this sort of thing can be. It's happened to me a few times. Nowadays I do like Gazl and press ctrl-A ctrl-C before submitting a long post.

May I suggest that the moderators move this thread into LQ Feedback where I think it would have more effect. In particular, the difficulty the OP had in registering suggests that something may have gone wrong with the site.

Tell us what specific problem you have and we'll try to help you to solve it. Just saying it's difficult isn't very informative.

Linux is easy to learn once you have twigged that you need to learn it just like you once needed to learn Windows. If you expect it to be just like Windows, only free, you will find it difficult.

Afterword: Looks like the post I was answering here has been removed. A known troll. I thought the user name looked familiar

(Note: I would have responded earlier, but LQ refused my login -- possibly I was banned? -- so I had to register again, to reply!)

Had I known it was necessary to prepare questions off-line, I would have done so.

But if that is necessary here, this is the first forum I've used where it is so; thus I was not expecting to have to do so.

Working in an unfamiliar environment (Zorin) and with unfamiliar tools, meant that trying to find and record the relevant information about my setup took considerably longer than it might have.
I did not anticipate it taking 2 hours to construct my question, but nor was I expecting to be logged out automatically.

The problem I am having is that I am using the linux machine via a KVM switch, and the OS locks up -- even as I am typing.
It seems to forget the keyboard and mouse are there -- even capslock and numlock stop working -- leaving power-off as the only recourse.

I've disabled the screen lock and every screen saver/power saver/ other option that I can find, but it still happens.

It also has a habit of rebooting -- even between keystrokes when teh only thing running is FF. I do not know if this is due to the distribution (Zorin) I chose; or something I've installed -- Wine; VMware Player, VirtualBox; none of which are running when teh lock-ups/reboots occur.

Teh actual question I came to ask was: Can I install a different distribution "over the top" of the current installation and retain:
1) the few unique files I've created;
2) any of the apps I've installed?


(BTW: re: problems with the registration; I'm using the default FireFox that came with the distribution.)

(Expecting to be banned again, despite that all I have done is describe my experience of trying to use this site. I'd willing work with someone to try and resolve the issues I faced; but I cannot do that if even mentioning those issues is a banning offence.)

Can you explain the exact issue you had with the registration in more detail? There are exactly 3 required fields, so "involved and pedantic" doesn't seem applicable.

--jeremy

3 members found this post helpful.

I have no idea why you are under the impression the account was banned. To confirm: it was not.

--jeremy

2 members found this post helpful.

buk,

If you have a separate Home partition (say sda3), you can preserve it whilst installing, say, Linux Mint 19.3 MATE into the root (system) partition sda1:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-distro-37074/

All your personal data and settings should be preserved.

The odd app or program may need reinstallation.